The New York Times has just published a story with details of President Trump’s latest cabinet meeting, were Elon Musk was (of course) also in attendance. While there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there, there’s one that has a particular impact on aviation.
In this post:
Elon Musk’s DOGE tried to fire air traffic controllers
During Trump’s latest cabinet meeting, there was reportedly a heated exchange between Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Elon Musk (whatever title you’d like to give him).
As we all know, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is trying to reduce waste (or something), and that involves layoffs across the government. According to the Transportation Secretary, employees at DOGE had demanded that some air traffic controllers be laid off.
Here’s the exchange that reportedly took place between Musk and Duffy:
Mr. Musk and the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, went back and forth about the state of the Federal Aviation Administration’s equipment for tracking airplanes and what kind of fix was needed. Mr. Duffy said the young staff of Mr. Musk’s team was trying to lay off air traffic controllers. What am I supposed to do? Mr. Duffy said. I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?
Mr. Musk told Mr. Duffy that his assertion was a “lie.” Mr. Duffy insisted it was not; he had heard it from them directly. Mr. Musk, asking who had been fired, said: Give me their names. Tell me their names.
Mr. Duffy said there were not any names, because he had stopped them from being fired. At another point, Mr. Musk insisted that people hired under diversity, equity and inclusion programs were working in control towers. Mr. Duffy pushed back and Mr. Musk did not add details, but said during the longer back and forth that Mr. Duffy had his phone number and should call him if he had any issues to raise.
As you can see, Musk claimed this wasn’t true, but Duffy insisted it was, so you can decide who you believe (if anyone). Just a couple of weeks ago, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) fired around 400 employees as part of the DOGE crackdown. It was claimed that no air traffic controllers or critical safety personnel were let go.
Trump wants MIT “geniuses” as air traffic controllers
In the same discussion, Trump reportedly told Duffy that he wanted to hire “geniuses” from MIT as air traffic controllers:
The exchange ended with Mr. Trump telling Mr. Duffy that he had to hire people from M.I.T. as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers need to be “geniuses,” he said.
I feel like that kind of misses the point of what’s wrong with our air traffic control system. We have two major issues — the technology we’re using for air traffic control are woefully outdated, and on top of that, there are major staffing shortages, leading to low morale and fatigue.
The current administration has placed a lot of the blame on the concept of DEI, though the simple reality is that it has been hard to even recruit enough people interested in becoming air traffic controllers. If you think we’re currently dealing with shortages of air traffic controllers, let’s see how this works out if the goal is just to recruit “geniuses” from MIT.
Bottom line
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Elon Musk reportedly had a heated exchange during a recent cabinet meeting. Duffy claimed that DOGE was trying to lay off air traffic controllers, while Musk claimed that wasn’t true. Meanwhile Trump claimed that the problem with air traffic control is that we need “geniuses” from MIT as controllers, rather than addressing the other systematic issues.
DOGE - Dept. of Grab EVERYTHING
Trump uses a lot of hyperbole. Just in case you never heard him speak before.
So you're going the route of "unnamed sources", or "sources say". Your bias is clear by your article so there's no doubt about your politics. A little advise from someone who has read you for years: start acting like the MSM and you will go the way of the MSM.
The NYT article claimed to have 5 sources. Granted, it doesn't mean the NYT got every single details correct, but I think in general, for the most part, it is a believable report. Having discussion/argument among the cabinet and DOGE shouldn't be that surprising. I'd be concerned if everything is smooth sailing - which most likely means they are just coasting and not working very hard to improve things.
I'm sure you liberal lefto are enjoying this nonsense....Too much politics here..Its for travel not @#%^^
Hi Bot…or is it “Dee”?
You dumbf*ucks choose to visit the site, read the posts…and then complain. So moronic.
Then why do you continue to post your political filth on this and other travel blogs?
Pot called the kettle black. And pot burned itself as a sinful hypocrite.
Trump (and Musk) is a moron. No quotation marks anywhere.
Musk has had it in for the FAA since it fined SpaceX for safety violations. Seeking retribution, he “fired” the previous Administrator, who had been in office for about a year and was confirmed by the senate by a vote of 99 to zero. The Deputy Administrator was also told to retire or be fired. When the mid-air collision occurred at National there was no FAA Administrator or Deputy, there is still only an acting...
Musk has had it in for the FAA since it fined SpaceX for safety violations. Seeking retribution, he “fired” the previous Administrator, who had been in office for about a year and was confirmed by the senate by a vote of 99 to zero. The Deputy Administrator was also told to retire or be fired. When the mid-air collision occurred at National there was no FAA Administrator or Deputy, there is still only an acting Administrator. Should they be making cuts in staffing when there isn’t a confirmed Administrator in place and the DOT Secretary has been in office for about a month? The FAA shouldn’t be treated like it’s Twitter. Musk needs to go back to South Texas and fix his rockets and leave the FAA alone.
This Trump/Musk/DOGE stuff isn’t about eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in government. It’s about everything but that. They honed in on weakening whistleblower protections and gutting OIG offices, GAO and other such bodies of oversight over government corruption and other waste, fraud and abuse. They targeted agencies that attempted to regulate them or their businesses.
Why this destructive targeting by Trump-Vance’s useful idiot Musk?
1. To make the country more susceptible to corruption.
This Trump/Musk/DOGE stuff isn’t about eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in government. It’s about everything but that. They honed in on weakening whistleblower protections and gutting OIG offices, GAO and other such bodies of oversight over government corruption and other waste, fraud and abuse. They targeted agencies that attempted to regulate them or their businesses.
Why this destructive targeting by Trump-Vance’s useful idiot Musk?
1. To make the country more susceptible to corruption.
2. To render the Trump-Vance regime less accountable.
3. To empower themselves to be more capable of operating like the corrupt dictators they want to be.
They want to be like Putin, but in America.
Or it's about cutting back a federal workforce that has grown substantially since Covid raise federal spending. I am guessing you didn't vote for Trump and are just projecting your views.
@Brian Bruh, the Federal workforce has hovered between 2.5-3.5 million people for the past 50 years, with spikes for handling the census every decade. We're about right in the middle of that range as of 2024, with 3 million civilian federal employees. You're out of your mind if you think the workforce growing 5% in a 4-year period (140k workers from 2020-2024) is "growing substantially" or "out of control government bureaucracy". Get a freaking grip.
I don’t vote for rapists and wannabe dictaors. So Trump never got my vote. I am proud to have voted against Trump at every opportunity granted to me as a US citizen.
*dictators*
What is it that the US is $36,000,000,000,000 in debt that you don't understand? Didn't the last Administration prove your 3 points you listed above?
Wouldn't presidential cabinet meetings be held in the utmost security? And if someone decided to break that security, wouldn't their motives be called into question?
Respectfully, airing political innuendo here isn't what most of us readers pick up this blog daily to read.
Only the parts deemed clearance required and the appropriate level of clearance. 2nd his blig his decision on what gets published. Your input doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Also, don't generalized on my behalf. You have no way of validating "most folks here".
Exactly and judging from the comments and engagement, Bob you are extremely wrong.
Replace prez, congress and judiciary with AI. Feed AI the constitution, American history, economics, ethics, fairness, logic and decency. We’ll balance the budget and eliminate the criminal infestation in the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court. This will also eliminate lobbyists, Super PACs, bad hombres, foreign influencers and mega donors, which adversely affect govt and drive prices up.
AI for IRS too. Overcome fraud, restore the monies stolen by tax cheats. Then prosecute...
Replace prez, congress and judiciary with AI. Feed AI the constitution, American history, economics, ethics, fairness, logic and decency. We’ll balance the budget and eliminate the criminal infestation in the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court. This will also eliminate lobbyists, Super PACs, bad hombres, foreign influencers and mega donors, which adversely affect govt and drive prices up.
AI for IRS too. Overcome fraud, restore the monies stolen by tax cheats. Then prosecute ALL the criminals in govt and otherwise. Seize ALL their assets and properties, redistribute $ to the masses and create National Parks and museums or sell the seized properties. For punishment, criminals will be deployed to rebuild Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. Give them the equivalent of SNAP benefits to purchase their food from the prison store which will only sell healthy food as specified by RFK Jr. who will likely be in their midst . Their only transportation will be jackasses and Tesla’s with a very limited number of charging stations. Prison uniforms will be dress suits and long red ties. Prisoners will be expected to build their own quarters out of local debris.
This message was brought to you by SkyNet.
Tired of slow human intervention?
Try SkyNet. We promise to eliminate
50% of humanity in 3 days.
Ask about it now.
lol funny who said the ATC in Canada worked well. it like USA, is disaster of govt inefficiency.
Even worse our FAA, Transport Canada is staffed by EX Air Canada employees so is biased.
Are you still banned on FlyerTalk? Why did they can you on there?
You were proto-Canada MAGA. Are you voting for Pierre Poilievre (or whatever his name is) and becoming a 51st state of the US?
Easy solution but not popular. Privatize air traffic control. Other countries do and there are no issues. At least then they can do upgrades cheaper and faster because they don't have to kiss congresses ass every year for funding.
None of this story in the NYT is true. “Reporting” and “Storytelling” are interchangeable there and have been for years. Haven’t we learned anything over the last 8’years?
Ben,
A short and sweet article which nailed it. Thank you.
In the coming months I'm sure the MSM will look for and avidly report any rift in the Trump administration they can find. They'll do this in order to espouse their own agenda and sell whatever media they can.
Trump promised to drain the swamp and make radical changes. He's doing just what he promised (unlike just about every politician who was...
Ben,
A short and sweet article which nailed it. Thank you.
In the coming months I'm sure the MSM will look for and avidly report any rift in the Trump administration they can find. They'll do this in order to espouse their own agenda and sell whatever media they can.
Trump promised to drain the swamp and make radical changes. He's doing just what he promised (unlike just about every politician who was elected). He employed Musk- who is just the guy to make things happen- he's never worked in government and is probably appalled at the fraud, laziness and waste which is an everyday occurrence and is literally inbred to our system. Mistakes will be made- by Musk and others.
But finally, things are getting done. Only six weeks into the administration, Democrats are irate, holding up pre-made signs and refusing to stand for even a cancer survivor. They're acting like petulant children. But they aren't DOING anything.
I think Trump can and will improve our ATC system, air safety and our government. The responsibility for the Helo/RJ crash a few months ago rests squarely on the shoulders of every previous administration and the fact that they all did little, if anything, to effect actual progress.
Kicking ass now and taking names later has worked well for many industries and applying it to an atrophied, inbred, overpaid and ineffective government is long overdue.
Sure, great to stand up for a cancer survivor while also blocking government funds meant to cure cancer. Some of us can still see the hypocrisy underneath the platitudes.
How long until the first cabinet secretary departs?
As for the trade agreement that no one in his right mind would have entered into . . . because it is so patently unfair to the US . . . see who signed it and what comments the person made . . . look up the following YouTube video: Fe1-glAU4Kw
Canada and many European countries privatized ATC. That helped them modernize, move to GPS-based systems, and improve safety.
Starting salary for an Air Traffic Controller is $56k to $66k. Starting salary for the average MIT grad is $127k. Why do I sense that there will be few takers? Of course, if ATC is outsourced and Mr. Musk receives the contract, I sense the contract will be based on $127k per employee . . . without the MIT grads.
but the salaries quickly go up. So it is a good job for many Americans.
Upper level in Los Angeles is 92K
Not enough to own a home, or have kids on.
But NOT MIT grads!
Mr. Musk wants to move fast and break things. Really, the ATC system stands as an excellent example of how benighted this approach is. The government is inherently conservative, and is run on effective systems that pay huge benefits to the people--in the case of the FAA providing extremely safe and efficient flying. Government practices are always legacy and thus less efficient than a start up tech company whose failure would only impact a relatively...
Mr. Musk wants to move fast and break things. Really, the ATC system stands as an excellent example of how benighted this approach is. The government is inherently conservative, and is run on effective systems that pay huge benefits to the people--in the case of the FAA providing extremely safe and efficient flying. Government practices are always legacy and thus less efficient than a start up tech company whose failure would only impact a relatively small group of investors. Breaking up government systems will impact us all.
While this "efficiency" exercise and its loud claims are ultimately a smoke screen to justify additional tax cuts (the entire Federal workforce costs ca. $280 billion while the deficit last fiscal year was $1.83 trillion), it's potential damage to vast swaths of the nation and its citizenry is very real.
Mr. Musk's recent payroll from Tesla was roughly $50 billion. As payroll, it is tax at the ordinary income rate and it is subject to the uncapped Medicare tax. Figure a combined rate of 40%. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on. Eliminate Social Security? And, if you can permanently move even 1% of the income tax to tariffs, Mr. Musk's tax savings (in one year) is double his dollar contribution to Mr. Trump's campaign.
I think your numbers are a bit off. Tesla's payroll isn't anywhere near $50B; and many of their workers are not based in the US. Those that are will also not be paying a 40% tax rate.
Lastly, moving the tax base from income tax to tariffs isn't a saving; it is just changing the collection method to a more regressive and inefficient system. Tariffs are still a tax on the US......
(Having written this...
I think your numbers are a bit off. Tesla's payroll isn't anywhere near $50B; and many of their workers are not based in the US. Those that are will also not be paying a 40% tax rate.
Lastly, moving the tax base from income tax to tariffs isn't a saving; it is just changing the collection method to a more regressive and inefficient system. Tariffs are still a tax on the US......
(Having written this I'm in too minds.....Fred you may have been executing a most brilliant troll.....in which case apologies)
Are America's skies really any safer than most other nations? And many of these other nations have much greater air control efficiencies than America.so whey not let DOGE get on with the promise to reduce American government inefficiencies, instead of blowing trumpets for the government hacks that are the root cause of the budget blowouts and ineefecient, and ineffective process.
This administration, has and will, cost more than doge can pretend to save. Talking points pivot daily. The outrage from our neighbors and allies shames all of us unless we demand sanity be restored. And genius doesn't always make a great candidate for an ATC. They exhibit many more exacting skills. But you have to be intelligent to understand that.
Musk was on Joe Rogan claiming no controllers were being fired (other than for incompetency) and the FAA was actively recruiting qualified applicants. I suspect this is fake news.
Organizations have those who retire or pursue other jobs. The FAA is no different & is always recruiting qualified applicants. No one seeks unqualified applicants. Prior DOT/FAA leadership stated that ATC was not subject to DEI. It's hard to imagine that incompetence is rife. 25%? Come on! Musk wants to break the system to necessitate ATC being outsourced . . . to him. He's already seeking to reassign a $42B contract from the existing awardee....
Organizations have those who retire or pursue other jobs. The FAA is no different & is always recruiting qualified applicants. No one seeks unqualified applicants. Prior DOT/FAA leadership stated that ATC was not subject to DEI. It's hard to imagine that incompetence is rife. 25%? Come on! Musk wants to break the system to necessitate ATC being outsourced . . . to him. He's already seeking to reassign a $42B contract from the existing awardee. It's about the money.
Really? Please quote your source.
Its 2.4 Billion not 42 Billion. The Alaska ATC contract upgrades.
That said - Musk and assorted companies have gained multiple billions in other contracts since inauguration
Given the reporting is all over the place as each contract is announced.
As to the 42 Billion in question the OP likely is referencing :
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/business/musks-starlink-federal-program/index.html
I agree, most of what Musk says is fake news.
It takes a special type of person to do the job of ATC. Genius or not - it doesn’t matter. You have to have the ability to keep working through a situation when something goes wrong without panicking. You can’t hit pause and have a meeting to discuss a solution. You have to come up with a solution in mere seconds. I’ve been doing this job since 1996. Trust me, I know. Solving ATC staffing...
It takes a special type of person to do the job of ATC. Genius or not - it doesn’t matter. You have to have the ability to keep working through a situation when something goes wrong without panicking. You can’t hit pause and have a meeting to discuss a solution. You have to come up with a solution in mere seconds. I’ve been doing this job since 1996. Trust me, I know. Solving ATC staffing needs a couple things at minimum:
-increased pay. Yes we make a lot but should make more. Also, benefits need to be protected (congress is talking about reducing or eliminating many fed benefits) which turns people away
- approve more overtime to have enough controllers on shift to provide OJT.
That’s just a couple things.
Spot on! This talk of MIT grads, etc., is ridiculous. They have no idea. Musk wants control of the FAA and will do anything to get it. Wifey of a retired 31 year Air Traffic Controller and myself, FAA Tech Ops and Comm Sup. I can’t stand watching and listening to this shit show.
A real 'let them have cake' moment from Trump ask Air Controllers to be MIT graduates when there is already a huge shortage and passing the test to be an Air Controller certified is already hard enough it sppears
Let's be clear here. As damaging as they are, the Musk/Trump antics attacking the federal workforce are performative. MAGA needs to justify extending the 2017 tax cuts, and even possibly expanding them given all the promises the president-in-name-only made during his campaign. The chaos he and his minions are causing are a distraction from the real issue: how to avoid "the appearance" of significantly expanding the level of US debt. They can crow "see, see...
Let's be clear here. As damaging as they are, the Musk/Trump antics attacking the federal workforce are performative. MAGA needs to justify extending the 2017 tax cuts, and even possibly expanding them given all the promises the president-in-name-only made during his campaign. The chaos he and his minions are causing are a distraction from the real issue: how to avoid "the appearance" of significantly expanding the level of US debt. They can crow "see, see I saved the taxpayer X percent of costs" while quietly enacting legislation that expands the debt by multiples of the savings achieved in order to fund lower taxes. And, of course, those lower tax rates benefit the wealthiest of Americans the most. It is a shell game, pure and simple.
I am a life-long conservative. Facts are facts. And, the facts tend to support your position. Government spending as a percent of gross domestic product in recent administrations: Clinton - 17.81%, Bush II - 20.20%, Obama - 17.56%, Trump I - 18.73%, and Biden - 17.09%. (Source: US Department of Commerce.) Roman philosopher Seneca said that a politician will maintain his position even when the facts prove otherwise. Hitler repeated it in Mein Kampf.
Jack,
You use statistics the way a Drunk uses a light post... for support rather than illumination.
You nailed it.
This is an exercise to try to justify massive tax cuts for those making more than $360k in income per year while simultaneously ballooning the federal debt for everyone.
For the record, years ago, Republican strategist Lee Atwater defined what was called the Southern Strategy. It is to implement seemingly indifferent policies that have a desired racist outcome. It had been the core of certain factions of the Republican Party and is the core of MAGA today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_8E3ENrKrQ&t=5s
Can thank the trumptards for turning America into the Russia of the western hemisphere.
Geniuses for air traffic controllers??? I've worked in an industrial setting for over 36 years and have personally met "genius" engineers who couldn't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel of said boot. This just sounds like some sort of branch from the DEI tree. ATC's should be filled based on merit and capabilities only!
you're not the only one. I worked as a contractor at JPL for three years. We use to call it "just plain lazy". Lots of goofing off there instead of work we're talking 2 hour lunches and 30 minute breaks. We decided to put in new filing cabinets and were turned down as being too expensive. Lucky for us one of our admins, had friends at the surplus dept. We got what we needed for...
you're not the only one. I worked as a contractor at JPL for three years. We use to call it "just plain lazy". Lots of goofing off there instead of work we're talking 2 hour lunches and 30 minute breaks. We decided to put in new filing cabinets and were turned down as being too expensive. Lucky for us one of our admins, had friends at the surplus dept. We got what we needed for free. The reason the cabinets were there, they did not match the paint on the walls.
The worse thing about NASA is that we would get projects just we got things done. The head of NASA did a surprise visit to one of the centers at night. People got caught sleeping on the job. I've also worked for aerospace and saw a lot of waste fraud and abuse.
Duffy should do what his leader wants like the head of the DOD who has banned pictures of the Enola Gay on DOD websites.
Common Musk L
Most geniuses probably have enough intelligence or sense to not work for someone who just wants yesmen (yes...men only) to work for them.
The US administration are vile, mendacious. troglodytes. Thugs. The scene in the White House the other week was a premeditated mugging by a couple of thugs. Never seen anything like it. No dignity. The Jerry Springer Show. In the pockets of musk and Putin. And Marjorie Taylor Greene to add. Worse than pond scum.
Cards, you hit the nail on the head, as did the commenter Nw and others who noted MIT grads are NOT the answer!! That was an idiot thing to suggest by Trump! Trump, Vance and Musk along with many other Administration nominees are Egotistical Thugs with less morales than murdering dictators including Putin!! Sean Duffy seemed to be a logical head in the room.....
It looks like the US is being run by two presidents at the same time. One elected (Trump) and the other trying to be (Musk). Firing Air Traffic Controllers is not a good idea. As Ben noted there is a shortage of them. The US cannot survive without aviation.
I (and others) have said many times that all of the crap Trump is doing would be over pretty quickly if ATC would just walk off the job and refuse to work again until he's gone. After about a week of that this country would be so crippled that everyone would join in on the strike and it's game over for all the Republicans, we cannot survive without our air traffic.
And of course,...
I (and others) have said many times that all of the crap Trump is doing would be over pretty quickly if ATC would just walk off the job and refuse to work again until he's gone. After about a week of that this country would be so crippled that everyone would join in on the strike and it's game over for all the Republicans, we cannot survive without our air traffic.
And of course, everyone who knows a tiny bit but can't actually logic anything just says "they did it before and Reagan fired them". Yeah, so? This isn't 1981, the circumstance are completely different. We depend on planes for everything now, in a way we didn't in 81. Not only to move people everywhere but our goods coming and going are through air, ships take a very long time. As this article points out we have a massive shortage of ATC so they can't just be replaced like last time either, you might be able to get a few stations back up and running, or fill in with some military positions, but at most I think you can get maybe 10% of our ATC back up and running and that's going to be practically nothing. Our Air Traffic Controllers hold A LOT of cards and could do so much with them, and with the way they've been treated over the last month I'm shocked they haven't snapped yet, but hopefully that changes soon.
This is the way.
I dislike Sean Duffy, but he’s not a scammer like Musk and Trump. Duffy is telling the truth on this, and it’s Musk who is lying and deflecting.
Musk is Trump and Trump is Musk. They are horrible.
Well put GUWonder!!
Tusk and Mump - in any other context it sounds like a great Saturday morning cartoon. Alas, living in that reality is… suboptimal.
I was cautiously optimistic about Duffy, since he was both in a position that couldn't do as much harm as others and also actually had prior government experience, but he's exceeding my expectations here. It might just be because he's under the microscope right now, but maybe he'll actually turn out to be competent. Best case, he both turns out to be competent AND doesn't get fired for telling Trump the truth.
Good call Duffy..... I totally agree!
Dusty*
So, what about Ben’s claim he’s not getting into politics, when he’s doing exactly that with his snarky remarks in the parentheses? It’s Ben’s blog, he gets to do with whatever he wants — I know — but his political bias has definitely left a mark. For sure, many Libs and Dems with TDS and MDS are celebrating him, living in their sad echo-chamber, but the true question remains unanswered: Why was the secretary unable...
So, what about Ben’s claim he’s not getting into politics, when he’s doing exactly that with his snarky remarks in the parentheses? It’s Ben’s blog, he gets to do with whatever he wants — I know — but his political bias has definitely left a mark. For sure, many Libs and Dems with TDS and MDS are celebrating him, living in their sad echo-chamber, but the true question remains unanswered: Why was the secretary unable to state the names of employees whose contracts were about to get terminated? He must have seen a list, received a memo, etc. in order to stop the firing process.
As with 99.9% or more of the jobs DOGE is trying to eliminate, Musk clearly has no damn clue what the job of air traffic controller entails or why it’s important.
@ Endre -- What's in parenthesis isn't intended to be snark. I said DOGE is trying to reduce government waste "or something" because as of now there's not much to actually show for it. Just a lot of chaos, misinformation, and legal challenges. I'm all for eliminating government waste and making it more efficient, but I don't think taking a machete to the government is the way to go about it.
Regarding the comment about...
@ Endre -- What's in parenthesis isn't intended to be snark. I said DOGE is trying to reduce government waste "or something" because as of now there's not much to actually show for it. Just a lot of chaos, misinformation, and legal challenges. I'm all for eliminating government waste and making it more efficient, but I don't think taking a machete to the government is the way to go about it.
Regarding the comment about not knowing what title to give Musk, it's because Trump seemingly can't decide whether he's head of DOGE or not. Am I missing something?
You're second sentence hit it right on the head: It's Ben's blog, he gets to do with what he wants", so shut the f*ck up. Sorry if the crumbling of Democracy is boring too you, the rest of us are hoping not to be sent to the camps. Did I mention shut the f*ck up?
I’m sorry, but some replies remind me of a former employee. When I took over the lead at our US branch, I noticed him wandering around the offices. So, I asked him what his actual JD was. His answer: “I’ve been working here for over 15 years.” — rest assured we parted ways shortly thereafter. Just because someone or something has “always” been done in a particular way doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be changed....
I’m sorry, but some replies remind me of a former employee. When I took over the lead at our US branch, I noticed him wandering around the offices. So, I asked him what his actual JD was. His answer: “I’ve been working here for over 15 years.” — rest assured we parted ways shortly thereafter. Just because someone or something has “always” been done in a particular way doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be changed. With regards to Musk: is he a bit “unconventional” to say the least? Definitely. Do I wish he would focus on his companies instead? Yes. But let’s be honest: bureaucracy is out of control. And we also know that there are way too many government officials who use my aforementioned excuse to justify their jobs.
“And we also know that there are way too many government officials who use my aforementioned excuse to justify their jobs.”
Name them. You should be able to name them.
@Endre
Why do you think bureaucracy is out of control? Because Trump and Musk told you so? If you actually use your brain and look at the size of the US government over the years, it has stayed around 3 million people for over half a century. If you actually cared about bloated bureaucracy, you'd be railing against state and local governments, which have grown from around 13 million people in the early 1980s...
@Endre
Why do you think bureaucracy is out of control? Because Trump and Musk told you so? If you actually use your brain and look at the size of the US government over the years, it has stayed around 3 million people for over half a century. If you actually cared about bloated bureaucracy, you'd be railing against state and local governments, which have grown from around 13 million people in the early 1980s to nearly 20 million today, and is the actual source of so much of the red tape that prevents us from building anything new.
If the size of the US Government work force remained the same for decades, we have a problem. Decades ago we did not have email, word processing programs and the ability to have the public input their info online. Think about processing any form previously submitted in writing and now totally online. I would expect the workforce to shrink or be sleeping at work.
@Donato
The size of the US population today has increased by 50% since 1980, and if you go back to 1950 it's increased by over 100%. More people require more civil servants to handle all the services that those people require. More IRS agents to vet tax returns, more mailmen to sort and deliver mail, more TSA agents to conduct security checks, the list goes on and on. If anything, the Federal workforce staying...
@Donato
The size of the US population today has increased by 50% since 1980, and if you go back to 1950 it's increased by over 100%. More people require more civil servants to handle all the services that those people require. More IRS agents to vet tax returns, more mailmen to sort and deliver mail, more TSA agents to conduct security checks, the list goes on and on. If anything, the Federal workforce staying relatively stable in number despite the massive population growth is in itself a sign of efficiency. But you, like a lot of Americans, seem to have no idea how many people it actually takes to run a country and your only "opinion" is that it should be less because that's what the spokesholes you listen to tell you. The biggest lie the Republicans ever told was that the Federal government is inefficient.
I cannot believe you were head of anything Endre, let alone the the US Branch of a company!! Name it please.... You should be able to do that, right?
The only thing I can assume you headed was a toilet brush or douche company and you headed the testing lab personally conducting the tests on yourself!
Yummy boot
Endre..... Go back and crawl under your MAGA rock and don't come out! Sean had more class than Elon, Vance and Trump all together! It was not the time or place to spout out names! But you wouldn't know it either as you likely have no class too.
How many MIT graduates want to work as air traffic controllers? They can pretty easily get jobs making much higher salaries.
And why would the ATC want them? They want people who want to work there and want to work there long-term. They don't want "genius" graduates from MIT who are itching to do something new every few years.
Wrong demographic.
Exactly. Hiring way overqualified people for a job comes with the risk of increasing employee turnover as they have more options to have better work elsewhere and not be in a monotonous video game of sort.
It's almost like the stupidest guys in America have been put in charge of everything.
Don't get me wrong, the only worse offenders are the Democratic leadership.
Trump and Musk are in charge of this crazy clown show. The MAGA Lord worshippers in Congress are their enablers.
This whole mess and all that follows is wholly-owned by the Republicans.
I wouldn't believe a thing the NYT says. Just trying to stir the pot since it lost USAID funding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7awU2survtE
@ AJ -- You're referring to the total of $3.1 million in government subscriptions that the New York Times has received over the past 17 years, which comes out to under $200K per year? The NYT had over $2.5 billion in revenue last year. Am I understanding that correctly, or is there some other fact-based information I'm missing?
Don't expect an answer from him, people like him cower when faced with facts.
I feel like you had a lot of sake before this article, while remaining much more neutral on the previous TSA union article.
@ Sel, D. -- Sake at 8AM in Japan? That's not really my vibe. ;-) I'm curious what you think is unfair here?
Just some extra snark that’s all. No breakfast sake? Must have been the Sapporo Classic instead.
Why can't a plane that Musk is on be involved in an "incident"?
If the system breaks down due to insufficient staffing, it will highlight the need to modernize the ATC system. And, someone is going to get that contract. And, the fact is that Musk-owned companies are now attempting to display existing contract awardees in favor of his own companies. One $42 billion contract is in play. This is absolutely not about politics. This is about business. That's what this stuff is really about.
Displace . . . as opposed to display. Auto-complete.
@Jack,
The fleecing of America continues.
I'm going to spit facts (as lawyers do).
1. We have a shortage of ATC
2. The way to solve a shortage is to pay more
3. ATC does not require "genius"
4. ATC does not benefit from "genius" beyond the baseline qualifications and training. The goal is to coordinate planes. The goal is not to find signals in petabyte scale data at low latency to arbitrage PnL. And, other than getting past the interview, that work doesn't take much genius either.
By the way, while I didn't go to MIT, I am a genius.
Ah, you're the one selling the iphones in those stores. I knew I recognized your pedantic style :)
To be really pedantic, Geniuses do not sell phones, they repair them. Insufferable as many of them are, they are damn good at their work because of the intensive training provided by Apple. Like how my firm turns law school graduates into the finest attorneys on the planet.
No just no. The answer is not paying more money. ATC gets paid quite a bit already. Just increasing salaries does nothing. There are things like age restrictions that limit the pool of candidates. Not to mention they funnel most of them through a school in OK which is a massive bottleneck and not everyone can just pick up and move to OK. They don't hire enough to have an effective apprentice program for on...
No just no. The answer is not paying more money. ATC gets paid quite a bit already. Just increasing salaries does nothing. There are things like age restrictions that limit the pool of candidates. Not to mention they funnel most of them through a school in OK which is a massive bottleneck and not everyone can just pick up and move to OK. They don't hire enough to have an effective apprentice program for on the job training hence it takes longer to reach certification. Instead of hiring enough people they just opted to pay more overtime to try to get more people to conduct on the job training to move the lower controllers up. For years these issues have been neglected. Just throwing more money at people fixes nothing. They need to invest invest in technology and they need to improve the work place/experience so that they don't lost controllers to burn out. The way to solve a shortage is not to pay more. Its to hire more and retain more.
@NYGuy24
Age restrictions really aren't the problem. The problem is they previously hired almost entirely from FAA partner programs in universities. People in these programs weren't all going the ATC pipeline, some were working towards pilot licenses and some for aerospace engineering. Under Obama the FAA went to a psych profile test as a way to open up the recruiting pool to a wider audience. There's no need for an ATC to be an...
@NYGuy24
Age restrictions really aren't the problem. The problem is they previously hired almost entirely from FAA partner programs in universities. People in these programs weren't all going the ATC pipeline, some were working towards pilot licenses and some for aerospace engineering. Under Obama the FAA went to a psych profile test as a way to open up the recruiting pool to a wider audience. There's no need for an ATC to be an aerospace engineer or have a pilots license, as long as they have the right kind of mindset for the job. This same initiative is what Trump and Co. are decrying as "woke".
And I disagree, money is also a factor, especially in major cities if you're not the most senior ATC in the tower. Why would anyone become an ATC in the NY/Newark area, or in SoCal, when cost-of-living is so exorbitantly higher than your base and middle salaries? Opening the recruiting pool up is one part of the equation, making the case to prospective recruits that it's a good career IE by hiring enough so that you're not overworking them and compensating them well enough that they don't dismiss the opportunity outright, is the other part of that equation. Technology only gets you so far.
Don’t listen to Stefan. I don’t know a real a geek here who thinks ATC is a partisan issue. The aviation industry is rightly proud of the regulatory structure and process that has given it its safety record and messing with it isn’t political, its just dumb.
It’s been weird seeing JonNYC have to address politics on his twister feed, but thats where we are now.
I can’t think of many stories that more universally impact readers than this one and its worth covering.
I'm going to partially disagree with you, James. The current regulatory process allows the FAA to ignore safety recommendations from the NTSB without justification. The frustration felt by NTSB bubbles up into the public realm from time to time, as it did durring a press conference they gave after the DCA collision/crash.
The aviation industry may, indeed, appreciate the buffering from NTSB recommendations that FAA provides.....right up till the next crash.
He used to be a die-hard Republican. But the Republican Party got taken over by MAGA; and at some point — for some people — reason eventually trumps emotional attachment to a political party.
But MAGA is the child of Republican culture wars super charged from Reagan onwards. MAGA are the chimera you get when Reagan’s Atwater/Nofziger, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove & Mitch McConnell get their way.
Ben, just a suggestion, but you should stick to the basics and avoid your snide (...) remarks. A writing style like this, while then claiming elsewhere you want to avoid politics and complain about people blaming you, isn't really helping your case.
I would not characterize Ben's comments as snide. That being said, irrespective of a person's qualifications or lack thereof or gender or ethnicity, no person becomes an Air Traffic Controller unless the person passes a rigorous training program. No slack is cut. And, each ATC works in a shadow mode for two years prior to being able to work independently.
Since Trump has taken all the best words, rest of us are having to do with whatever is left.
If you don’t like how/what Ben covers, just don’t read this blog. No one is forcing you.
Stefan is so typical of the current climate.
“If I don’t agree with you, you are at fault and must censor yourself or be censored. You harm me by my choosing to read your content”.
What a d***s*** scumbag!
not to be rude, stefan, but you seem like a bit of a snowflake
Jesus trumpers are the most pathetic little snowflakes
@ Stefan -- Respectfully, are you really in a position to make suggestions to me about sticking to the basics and avoiding politics? Let me quote one of your (many) political posts over time:
"Plenty of angry little Biden voters out here. Pathetic! Now go back to your basement or burn down a city of your choice, then prepare yourselves for another meltdown coming NOV 3."
Stefan is a f-ing tool. And I bet he knows it himself
If the story itself is just ridiculous, firing (maybe?) ATC, then realizing there is a shortage, and the solution is to hire geniuses from MIT (however Musk defines that) to work as ATC then I think we don't need to pussy foot around and just call a spade a spade. This administration is either intentionally or unintentionally destroying this country.
Never in my life would I think that Park Rangers and ATCs would be...
If the story itself is just ridiculous, firing (maybe?) ATC, then realizing there is a shortage, and the solution is to hire geniuses from MIT (however Musk defines that) to work as ATC then I think we don't need to pussy foot around and just call a spade a spade. This administration is either intentionally or unintentionally destroying this country.
Never in my life would I think that Park Rangers and ATCs would be considered bureaucratic "waste" in the federal government, but here we are.
Gosh i hope Tesla goes bankrupt
Musk aligning himself with Trump has certainly had a negative effect on Tesla sales in Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/uk-new-car-sales-drop-1-february-industry-data-shows-2025-03-05/
Still, if his space company makes more than $56B in US government contracts, he may not care about Tesla losing money.
Stefan, Just what Ben said, plus you are an idiot like Trump, Vance & Elon combined!